Excited about closing a new consulting deal, Edward rushed to start the job. Mary, a VP at a local software company, had agreed to hire him to develop several sales tools to help sell software to call centers. He worked furiously on the new project for several days and fired off a draft and a […]
A little mistake that cost a consultant $2875 Read More »
Consulting tends to be a people business and people like to do business with people they know. Every so often, you may be approached to by a friend who has a great personality but makes a lousy business partner. Many years ago, I fell ill and knew I wouldn’t be able to complete a project.
Mixing business and friendship Read More »
For unknown reasons, my site crashed this past week. Ouch! I was out of town and I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. It crashed the last time I was out of town, too! I’m sure most of you have little interest in my web server, but I did want to
Major site outage…ouch Read More »
In running a business, I run into numerous situations where I owe a thank you to someone. More often than not, that person is a vendor — such as a graphic designer, printer, paper supplier, accountant, coach, advertising rep or web developer. The reasons to thank them can range from receiving a referral to a
Top 5 ways to thank your partners Read More »
You’re in the middle of a meeting with a prospective client. You want this client’s business so bad it hurts. But the prospect has asked the million dollar question: "Who are your clients and what have you done for them?" It’s tempting to rattle off the names of your clients, the problems they faced and
Should you break an NDA to woo a client? Read More »
Years ago, I took Philosophy 101. I thought I was a pretty good student. One day, the prof asked if anyone had a calculator handy. I said, "Why on earth would philosophy students have calculators?" The prof replied, "Well, surely you people take other courses!" It was all pretty funny back then, but I’ve since
Keep a calculator handy Read More »
This week’s Friday 5 comes from Lauren Tarne at the Go Big Network: Does Marketing Make You Mental? The Top 5 Reasons That Might Be the Case. As a marketer, I love reason #1:Collateral Confidence — You depend on your business cards, letterhead, tri-fold brochure and basic website to do the marketing for you. Business
Friday 5: Top 5 reasons marketing drives you crazy Read More »
Back in December, I noted that I was planning to read a book by Timothy Ferriss called The 4-Hour Workweek. I read the book in early January and have finally got around to implementing some of the ideas. Although I don’t advocate everything in the book, it certainly got me thinking about ways to streamline
Achieving a 4-hour workweek Read More »
I’m a computer junkie. I’ve had a computer since I was about eight years old. Before that, I used to stand in the computer section of Sears, pining for the chance to play the Pac-Man clone. However, as much as I love computers, I held out a long time before moving up to a laptop.
Do you need a laptop computer? Read More »
This morning, I was astonished to discover that someone I know has been charging the same consulting fees for TEN years! Ten! And, not only that, this consultant only charges $50 an hour! Yikes! If this consultant had merely increased fees at the rate of inflation, they’d be charging $61 an hour now. I mean,
How often do you raise your rates? Read More »
